Carnival dining room food quality

[Niko1]

Just returned from a cruise aboard the Carnival Conquest. Is it me or has the quality of the dining room food gone down? It was served cold and poor quality. Plus in order to get a filet you now have to pay extra

 

 

Sent from my iPod touch using Forums

Edited December 28, 2016 by Niko1

[BoDidly]

:( It's going down, nothing like it use to be. :rolleyes:. We go one night only ,

lobster is the only thing that appeals to me. If I'm lucky I'll get luke warm lobster and the melted butter is no longer melted :eek:.

[IamtheRainKing]

:( It's going down, nothing like it use to be. :rolleyes:. We go one night only ,

 

lobster is the only thing that appeals to me. If I'm lucky I'll get luke warm lobster and the melted butter is no longer melted :eek:.

 

 

Where do you go on the other nights? Buffet? Or specialty restaurants?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[BoDidly]

Where do you go on the other nights? Buffet? Or specialty restaurants?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Buffet , never pay venues . Or a Sam-ich :)

Edited December 28, 2016 by BoDidly

[sfaaa]

Just returned from a cruise aboard the Carnival Conquest. Is it me or has the quality of the dining room food gone down? It was served cold and poor quality. Plus in order to get a filet you now have to pay extra

 

 

Sent from my iPod touch using Forums

 

Well then pay extra if filet is what you want.

[Cr2zCr8zy]

I've noticed it too. Looks like it went down with the introduction of the American Menu.

 

Sent from my SM-G900T using Forums mobile app

[nchikk]

Our last cruise it was American Table and while we preferred the previous menues, I have no problem with the "quality of the dining room food". In our case, the problem was more server-related than kitchen-related.

 

All that being said, of course there will be a difference between ships. While recipes are the same, the chefs are different. It's like you trying to recreate your favourite dish that grandma used to make for you. You have the recipe, but it just doesn't come out 100% the same when you try it.

Edited December 28, 2016 by nchikk

[Micahs Grandad]

Our last cruise it was American Table and while we preferred the previous menues, I have no problem with the "quality of the dining room food". In our case, the problem was more server-related than kitchen-related.

 

All that being said, of course there will be a difference between ships. While recipes are the same, the chefs are different. It's like you trying to recreate your favourite dish that grandma used to make for you. You have the recipe, but it just doesn't come out 100% the same when you try it.

 

Food good some servers dont work very efficiently and some galleys dont put out food as quickly as others.

 

Last cruise we were on Magic very back of DR as far from galley as you can get and food always very hot.

 

Others closer to galley and food is about room temp.

[StolidCruiser]

Just returned from a cruise aboard the Carnival Conquest. Is it me or has the quality of the dining room food gone down? It was served cold and poor quality. Plus in order to get a filet you now have to pay extra

 

 

Sent from my iPod touch using Forums

 

Yes, it is you.

 

Time to move on to another cruise line whose passengers aren't bemoaning the same trite decline. Good luck finding (and affording) one.

[crewsweeper]

I definitely agree that it's the service when you cold or room temp food in the MDR. The quality is going to be very similar whether you eat in the MDR or the Lido buffet. At night they have some of the same items. Same galley.

Service seems to be worse on some ships in the Your Time dining areas. These are becoming more popular and thus more crowded, longer wait times at peak hours, yielding slower service. Seated dining can be equally as bad if you are at a larger table and have to wait of the late folks. Always a good idea to show up on the first night and then let your server(s) know when you won't be eating there. Helps move the service along for others.

[deborahjo]

Were on the Conquest in October. Yes the food quality and how they treat their guest has also declined on the Conquest. My experience first hand.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[lip]

I just returned from the Sunshine on Monday and was totally disappointed in the MDR quality.

[Sweet Dutch Girl]

Food quality and food service is so subjective that it is impossible to really get a clear handle of the legitimacy of reviews concerning the dining rooms on any cruise line.

 

When cruising was a 1000 passengers on board and food was only served in the dining room it was an event. Those were the days, too, when staff was greater than the passenger count. The food staff weren't spread all over the ship....no buffet, no specialty restaurants, no "franchised" food areas.

 

If someone is comparing today's cruising with what went on before cruising became "main stream" of course things have changed, and probably not for the better. But, if we compare the dining rooms to what is available "on land" in standard "everyday" restaurants the cruise lines compare quite favorably...I think they do as well as any Olive Garden or Red Lobster etc.

 

However, comparing the "banquet" dining of a cruise ship to a 5 star restaurant (like they were in "olden" times) is apt to be rife with disappointment.

 

I can cook meals for a dinner party of six that blow the roof off, but up the ante to a couple of dozen guests and I'm scrambling to perfect just about anything. Context and situations really need to be taken into account when judging quality. Want a five star experience on a budget cruise....just ain't going to happen.

[beerman2]

Food quality and food service is so subjective that it is impossible to really get a clear handle of the legitimacy of reviews concerning the dining rooms on any cruise line.

 

When cruising was a 1000 passengers on board and food was only served in the dining room it was an event. Those were the days, too, when staff was greater than the passenger count. The food staff weren't spread all over the ship....no buffet, no specialty restaurants, no "franchised" food areas.

 

If someone is comparing today's cruising with what went on before cruising became "main stream" of course things have changed, and probably not for the better. But, if we compare the dining rooms to what is available "on land" in standard "everyday" restaurants the cruise lines compare quite favorably...I think they do as well as any Olive Garden or Red Lobster etc.

 

However, comparing the "banquet" dining of a cruise ship to a 5 star restaurant (like they were in "olden" times) is apt to be rife with disappointment.

 

I can cook meals for a dinner party of six that blow the roof off, but up the ante to a couple of dozen guests and I'm scrambling to perfect just about anything. Context and situations really need to be taken into account when judging quality. Want a five star experience on a budget cruise....just ain't going to happen.

 

Thank you for a common sense response. Remember the chefs/kitchen are cooking for thousands of people in a 4-5 hour time frame.

 

It's not going to be 5 star. There are very few people who lose weight on a cruise.

[Nic6318]

Just returned from a cruise aboard the Carnival Conquest. Is it me or has the quality of the dining room food gone down? It was served cold and poor quality. Plus in order to get a filet you now have to pay extra

 

 

Sent from my iPod touch using Forums

 

Hi Niko

 

I think everyone would agree that the quality of everything has gone down. If you look at these boards you will see that the same things are said on the threads of the luxury lines as well.

 

It seems clear that as the cruise lines try to keep prices down and profits up, service will have to take a hit. Many will point out that we are paying the same or less for our cruises than we did when we started cruising.

 

Just out of curiosity, when you say that you feel the quality of the food has declined, what time frame are you talking about? Over the last year or over the last twenty years? I ask this because I really don't feel I see a great difference from cruise to cruise, while over the last thirty years of course I see a big difference, but then I see that same difference in everything I buy nowadays. Still, if the price is low enough and my fridge falls apart after ten years instead of thirty, I will just throw it away and buy a new one instead of trying to fix it.

 

As a consumer don't forget that you have many choices and there are lots of cruise lines that will offer you a better product and because they are all competing for your money, the prices aren't that much more for what you get.

 

hope this helps

have a great cruise

[crusinpsychRN]

It also depends on the chef. I had terrible lasagna on Legend and other not so tasty food. Tried it again on Legend and it was delicious. Checked and sure enough they had a new chef.

 

I had good appetizers but a terrible steak in the steakhouse on Pride. Couldn't get wait staff so I finally left telling them I wasn't going to wait. It was a comped meal so no charge anyway.

 

Just off Oosterdam and the only good meal was breakfast--they even had crisp bacon. Lunch and dinner with the exception of prime rib tasted like water, no flavor whatsoever. There was one thing that smelled good so I tried it off the Asian lunch line. It was unidentifiable, came in a long string about an inch wide and had bones all through the middle of it with very little meat. Dog? Many others on the ship thought the same so it wasn't just me.

[LMaxwell]

I think the quality of food in the dining rooms is still consistently good in regards to fresh foods that are baked, grilled, broiled, etc.

 

I just think there is a lot more quick serve, deep fry type food on the menu which I usually think of with lower cost and more casual settings. I don't often want heavy fried / breaded foods.

 

And you have the higher end proteins now as an additional cost, so while the quality may still remain there, probably far less people are experiencing that as well compared to the past where there was no extra fee.

 

So "in the middle" has remained quite good, IMO.

[Salem615]

I remember being on the Triumph a few years ago and everything was so good. We ate in the dining room every night. We had the best waiter as well. So attentive and a lot of fun.

 

Last year on the Glory food was hit and miss. Loved Guys burgers and the place where they made breakfast burritos. Breakfast buffet was what I expected.

 

The dining room was okay at best. Some nights we were in and out and other nights I felt like we were never going get out of there. Food was pretty good overall but nothing special. Even my chocolate lava cake was not as good.

 

But I never went hungry!:)

[asalligo]

Just returned from a cruise aboard the Carnival Conquest. Is it me or has the quality of the dining room food gone down? It was served cold and poor quality. Plus in order to get a filet you now have to pay extra

 

 

Sent from my iPod touch using Forums

 

This is one of the many reasons my wife wants to be done with cruising Carnival. She argues that cruising used to be maybe a 3 or 4 star resort experience, but is now on par with a Holiday Inn/Howard Johnson's type vacation in both food and atmosphere. It is getting harder every year to argue the counter point.

 

I need to get her on a Celebrity or Princess cruise and try that now that we are better off financially, but she is so jaded to cruises now, she really does not want to try anything else.

[Coach Pedro]

MDR food is now a notch above Golden Corral....... Not impressed at all. Was better on cruises 3-4 years ago.

[bury me at sea]

My opinion is that food quality and choices have definitely declined since the inception of the American Table. On our Breeze cruise in August two nights I ordered multiple appetizers and no entree. One night one bite of a very dry, tasteless pork chop entree was enough.

 

Didn't have any problems with food temperature or service, though the wait staff seemed to be spread pretty thin. The staff was still friendly but seemed harried, hurried and were trying their best to cope.

[SadieN]

We sail the same ships, sometimes the cruises are just several weeks apart. Some times the food is great, other times it's yuck. Same menu, change of cooks.

For whatever reason the fish cooks have been consistently very good.

[The4Cruisers]

We've found the MDR food to be good, not great. But it met our expectations.

 

The service staff leaves a lot to be desired and I understand the cruise line messed up by stretching them thin. On our last cruise, our wait staff was not coordinated with each other and one of them was always running back to the kitchen "for this or that".

Edited December 28, 2016 by The4Cruisers

[saharaga]

Yes! My husband and I were talking about this on our Triumph cruise last week. The last Carnival cruise we were on with truly great food was the Sunshine in May 2015. We did not eat in the dining room at all on the Triumph. We tried the American Table menus on the Fascination and Valor. Don't like it. I checked the dining room menu daily only to find the same menu from previous cruises. I miss the variety of the old menus and the food options were more appetizing.

 

 

 

I've noticed it too. Looks like it went down with the introduction of the American Menu.

 

Sent from my SM-G900T using Forums mobile app

[avenger71]

We were just on the Valor and the food was excellent.